


I'll Take Your Breath Away![[On Hold.]]

by JBreaker2033



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It of Sorts, Not Canon Compliant, Original Character(s), Self-Insert, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-02-28 04:52:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18749389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JBreaker2033/pseuds/JBreaker2033
Summary: She had hated her life in the Before. The stress, the yelling, the emptiness in her heart. The way that days seemed blank and nights seemed like they were the only times she could breathe. But then.Dear god, but then.Then she was running, backpack on and dirty boots hitting the pavement, frantic and vulnerable and more alive than she'd ever been. Yelling and footsteps behind her and the cold rain and wind on her face and arms felt wonderful. But the highway wasn't clear, the cars zooming by left and right, and her knee twinged and suddenly-Searing pain and neon lights and flashing and more yelling, and it all just...went silent.Then she wakes up in a world that has the freshest air she's ever breathed, and she can't remember a thing. Not really.She doesn't mind.





	1. I'm a force that you will dread.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here she is, in a world that has nothing she used to have but has everything she needs, and she feels at peace with herself. Her parents may be non-existent, her grandfather may be loud and too touchy-feely, and she may have no idea who she is...
> 
> But she feels free. And really, that's all she needs.

When she first wakes up, disoriented as all hell, the first thing she does is reach for a switchblade that is not there. After that, she breathes and opens her eyes, and a sky far clearer than she'd ever seen one greets her. 

Unlike most or some in this situation, she doesn't freak out or cry or panic. She doesn't think about her old life flashing before her eyes. She wakes up in a body that isn't hers at all, too lean and much too short, and she scratches at the scar under her eye. 

She smiles, a genuine one, and breathes in the scent of the air again. So clear and fresh. A sign that this is all real. A sign that she is, finally, free. She hears what sounds like an older man yelling in the distance, and she gets up and stretches her new body. It feels weird, but a _good_ weird. 

She doesn't know who she is yet, but that only means there is opportunity. 

Lots and lots of _opportunity_. 


	2. Breathe, before you suffocate. Chp2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If she (and isn't it weird, that she's still a SHE, because she could've sworn she was a He-) is too talkative, too friendly, smiles too much, the world doesn't say anything, and the people don't either. She's glad.

She doesn't quite know where home is, but she lets her body lead her and she ends up at what looks to be a bar. She goes inside and sees the old man that supposedly yelled her name earlier, a guy with fair skin and a funny hat. _Woop Slap_ , a customer says, and isn't that a funny name?

 

She sits at the bar, laughing at jokes that the green haired woman says and eating a plate of food that was slid infront of her, and she gets the feeling that Makino was family to whoever this body belonged to before. She's glad she had such good taste. Makino is funny, friendly, _loving_ (-and that isn't a feeling she's had much experience with). It's nice. Peaceful even.

 

The bright sun sets, the customers depart with smiles and small waves, and she leaves the bar before Makino can say anything. She misses the worried look sent after her, because Makino has always walked Luffy home, but the barmaid dismisses it with a sigh because maybe it's time Luffy started walking home by herself, and besides...Luffy has always been a particular brand of _strange_.

 

She goes on a walk.

 

She doesn't know where she's going, has no damn clue, but the moon bathed beach looks so beautiful at night it's hard to say _'Lets walk somewhere else'._

 

She rubs at the scar on the left side of her face, wonders where she got it from, and a voice in the back of her head said a Red Haired man inspired stupidity. The voice seems fond, so she isn't bothered by that little tidbit of information, but she does wonder how a man could be so swaying that he would inspire the confidence needed to stab ones own face with a blade. Crazy thing, that.

 

She stays there, laying down on a sandy beach in Foosha Village for who knows how long, thinking and wondering and smiling and relishing in the fresh air.

　

And then, when the sun begins to rise and the village begins to make its noise again, a ship with a jolly roger with 3 marks on a skull comes over the horizon, and she breathes in and _laughs_.

 


	3. Oh how it seems to the outside world. Chp3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shanks can't tell whether the change in Anchor is good or bad. She smiles more, if thats even possible, and her laugh is louder than usual. When she first saw him and his crew, it was when they docked, and she looked so fond and exasperated it left him a bit speechless. 
> 
> Or...Luffy's change in behaviour is unnoticable to some, but to others it's like seeing a mirror image, and one of them is smiling just a bit too wide.

Shanks has been around Anchor long enough that he knows when something is wrong.

 

Her change in behavior wouldn't be noticeable to some, he knows, but Shanks has been around Luffy for awhile now. The kid adores him, a sort of hero worship that was a bit overwhelming when he first met her _(-because really, he doesn't want to put ideas into a kid's head. The world is dangerous enough without an unruly child on the sea)_.

Point is, she's a bit more clever, smarter in a way she wasn't before, and it's _weird_ to see Anchor get one over on his crew.

But...he supposes he can't be too worried. The change is good, in a strange sort of way, and if Anchor looks at him and his crew with eyes that seem a bit too knowing...Well. Kids have always been weird, and if Luffy wants to know more and read more and be smarter, than he'll just have to keep up _(-and he's sure that with this small change, the World will have to keep up too)._

\---

She knows that she isn't quite acting right. Too happy, if that's a thing, too smart, and too willing to listen to stories that don't involve fiction.

And when the crew departs, noisy and happy and content, she waves Shanks goodbye without a single tear in sight _(-because she knows he will come back)_ , and Shanks laughs and says he'll bring some books by next time.

He knows her so well.


	4. A Corruption, shaped like a Reward. (Will you value a life over a lifestyle?) Chp4.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time she meets her Grandfather, it is when her father hands her off to him, never to be seen again.  
> The first time She meets her Grandfather, it is when he barges into Makino's bar and hugs her so tight she feels like she's about to die.
> 
> She likes him already.

It is midday, and she is in Makino's bar eating lunch and laughing at jokes the green haired barmaid makes. The other patrons chatter amongst themselves, drinking from their mugs and she smiles as quiet laughter reaches her every once in awhile.

Two months have passed since Shanks last visited, that familiar mess of red hair just an image in her mind now, and something to look forward to. And she does, she can't wait to see the crew again, but she's also looking forward to seeing her only blood relative _(-besides the man who is going to watch the government burn-)._

 _Monkey D. Garp_. Her grandpa.

She can't say for certain whether she'll like the man or not, because in a misty place in her mind she knows of a world where he is an accomplice in her unknown brother's death, that he loved and cherished the law of _madmen_ more than he loved his own grandson. It is a bitter, fleeting memory. 

But she knows her grandfather better than that. 

So she will give him a chance.

And as he bursts through the building's doors, huge and imposing but little more than a puppy in demeanor, as he gathers her in his arms and cries happy tears, blubbering about ' _how_ _long it's been since hes seen his adorable little granddaughter'..._

 

She smiles _._

\----

 

She hopes, harder than she's _ever_ hoped in her life, that he will do good.

 

_(-She wonders if she'll regret it. If he will shatter their family in a convoluted battle that shouldn't have ever happened. If he will look her in the eyes, meaningless medals shining proudly on his chest, and rear back his fist with a look of sorrow on his face.)_

 

\-----

 

...But. But she knows her grandfather better than that.

She knows it.

 

_(...She does not regret it, when years later her grandfather blocks the killing blow of a mad dog, and does it with a smile on his face and only burned and scarred arms for his trouble. She does not regret it, when he gathers her and her older brother in his arms and brings them to a ship led by the Strongest Man Alive._

_She does not regret it, as he laughs softer than she's ever heard him laugh, and he says_

_"You're my grandchildren._

_I love you more than a couple useless chunks of metal.")_

 


End file.
